Speaking modestly

May 28 2003By Farah Farouque

What†do actor Bud Tingwell, newsreader Rowan Forster, sports guru Tim
Lane and entertainer Jane Clifton have in common? They belong to a collective of
more than 450 Melburnians who volunteer their time for RPH print radio.

The service, targeted at the print handicapped, is heading towards its 21st
birthday in December and next month launches its annual appeal to the public.
The station has grown from a shoestring co-op, broadcasting out of a house in
Prahran, to what manager Stephen Jolley terms a "modest operation".

In fact, these days RPH in this state has its own regional network, with
satellite stations in Albury-Wodonga, Mildura, Shepparton, Bendigo, Geelong,
Warragul and Warrnambool broadcasting their own local content.

The bones of the station are the volunteers - there are only five paid staff
- who read a wealth of printed words ranging from daily newspapers to books. The
core audience ranges from the vision impaired - "radio is something that
naturally people who can't see will turn to," says Jolley - to people
recovering from strokes and arthritis sufferers who find it hard to turn a
page.

RPH has no means of determining the exact listenership but Jolley says the
physical reach of the station, which is on the old 3KZ signal, is as strong as
any metropolitan AM radio outfit. "When we began, you had to to tweak the radio
to be able to pick us up," he says. Now, "we believe we have 90,000
listeners".

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Unlike commercial cousins, ego is a dirty word at RPH. Volunteers are
interviewed and make the final cut once they have tendered audition tapes. About
50 to 60 per cent make it.

Indeed, the work can seem mundane. In his AFL show, 774 newsreader Rowan
Forster meticulously reads the line-up of every football team. "Its not
personality radio. It's about turning print into sound," explains Jolley.

To catch Forster in AFL mode, his show runs from 6.30pm to 6.55pm every
Friday.

Donations to the appeal, which starts officially in mid-June, can be made on
1800 060 992.

†∑ That indefatigable radio agitator Joe Toscano is, well, agitating
again. His target this time is the Friends of the ABC. The 3CR presenter remains
unhappy with the conduct of the Victorian Friends AGM last year, saying he was
gagged when he wanted to speak to a motion calling for the ABC to be enshrined
in the Australian Constitution.

Now Toscano has written to Registrar of Incorporated Associations at Consumer
Affairs Victoria, asserting he has been "denied natural justice". Toscano's
complaint alleges that there were "enough irregularities" in the way the
meeting was conducted that the entire Friends AGM should be declared invalid.
(For the record, Toscano stood for the committee but was defeated.)

†∑ Triple J has acquired a new music director after the departure from
the post of veteran Arnold Frolows, 53, who had been in it for 18 years.
Presenter Richard Kingsmill, in his 30s, has moved in. The changeover comes as
the ABC's youth station, which has been in something of a ratings doldrum,
prepares to relaunch soon. Frolows has taken up a new position going through the
station's extensive archive of live recordings for commercial CD release.